Ex-Pearson school board official gets absolute discharge in forgery case
“I am sure that the offender has learned her lesson,” Mascia said before he concluded his decision.
Caroline Mastantuono, the former head of the Lester B. Pearson School Board’s international department, will not have a criminal record after pleading guilty to forgery charges earlier this year. In a decision delivered at Montreal’s courthouse on Tuesday, Quebec Court Judge Salvator Mascia granted Mastantuono, 61, of Laval, an absolute discharge. This means that she will not serve any jail time, face probation, or be required to follow any conditions as part of her sentence.
“I am sure that the offender has learned her lesson,” Judge Mascia stated before concluding his decision. During the sentencing hearing, defence attorney Jonathan Gordon highlighted the media coverage of the case, calling it "sensational and unfair." He argued that his client had already been punished, noting that the negative press caused Mastantuono’s private college business to fail as banks that had previously lent her money withdrew their support.
Gordon also argued that Mastantuono deserved the absolute discharge due to her good character, lack of a criminal record, and the fact that she did not profit from her crimes. After the failure of her business, Mastantuono went back to school to study culinary arts and now works as a chef at a junior college in Montreal.
Judge Mascia acknowledged Mastantuono’s perseverance, stating, “In the present matter we have an offender who persevered despite suffering setbacks that would have discouraged lesser souls from carrying on. At age 59, she enrolled in culinary school. The aim was twofold: to earn an honest living in a domain that always interested her and to set an example for her three adult children.”
The case stems from a 2016 investigation by UPAC, known as Project Pandore, into allegations of fraud, forgery, and abuse of trust at the Lester B. Pearson School Board. The investigation focused on schemes involving foreign students seeking to enroll in Quebec's educational programs. According to a joint statement of facts filed during Mastantuono’s guilty plea, she instructed staff to forge receipts that falsely indicated students had fully paid their tuition, even when they had not.
A company in British Columbia allegedly benefited from the forgeries by recruiting students from India to study in Quebec. The school board paid the company a commission for each student. The court heard that of the 25 students attributed to the B.C. company, 16 confirmed they had not used a recruitment agency. The total commissions paid to the company for these students amounted to $76,698.
Mastantuono’s co-accused, Naveen Kolan, 50, from Blainville, has a court date this week.